Hasbro Q&A/August 2009
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Question archive, and links to the answers from, the August 2009 Hasbro Q&As.
Questions
ActionFigs.com
- This question has been on our "juuuust barely missed the votes" list since the very first round, and our readers definitely seem to want to know it, so here goes. When are you going to remake Kup? Granted, there have been a few other awesome old guy Transformers lately, Ratchet in Animated, Brakedown in the Cybertron line (who did get a Kup-styled repaint), but Kup himself is a beloved character we haven't seen used for far too long in the toy line, neither a US reissue nor a new version (the Botcon exclusive doesn't entirely count). With his recent significant appearance in All Hail Megatron, it seems like Kup is far overdue for a toy, and while a reissue would be a good start, an awesome new figure would be even better. So, any hope for a Kup figure? If so, any chance of that figure coming with his Targetmaster buddy, Recoil?
- The new Human Alliance is starting to pick up steam, with Bumblebee and now Sideswipe showing up in stores, and the fan buzz about the line is really taking off. With Human Alliance, assuming the line continues beyond the sets shown, what is the future of the line, will we be seeing Sideways or Ironhide in the line? What about human(oid) characters like Major Lennox, Alice, even the Witwicky parents or hologram drivers? Might we even get more movie 1 characters like Jazz? How about off-screen Transformers, larger pricepoint figures, even recent comic book bots and humans for the Human Alliance line?
- Even though this has been somewhat addressed at your panels at this year's Botcon and Comic-Con, questions about the ROTF Arcee motorcycle trio keep coming up as fans are both stymied and fascinated by the concept and potential behind these 3 characters. Can we get final clarification on a few things, like will this figure definitely be coming out? Can we get a definitive name on the 3rd bike character, is it Moonracer or Flareup or something else? Now that we've seen concept art for that character, the bike mode might pass as a repaint of Arcee but the bot mode absolutely could not, and their colors seem a little too similar, will this 3rd bike be a new sculpt, a retool, or just a repaint? Why haven't there been any images yet of this 3rd character or all 3 motorcycle figures in their combined mode, and might we get photos of that? Have you yet worked out the alternate method by which the combined mode instructions will be revealed since they won't be in the 3rd figure's instructions?
AllSpark.com
- It's apparent that there are many more licensing agreements for ROTF than ever before - there's an Optimus Prime pinata for god's sake! - are the relationships with the licensees leaving you very satisfied with the quality and variety of product coming out? And can you tell us what's the strangest request you've had for licensing a product for Transformers (and whether or not you chose to turn it down?)
- With a lot of the upcoming Movie Deluxes having a redeco with a retool head, is this going to be a standard practice to have an alternate head designed for most Deluxe figures from the get go? Or is this just a special case with the Movie line? Also, if the character is an off screen character, how do you decide what head to use first?
- Can you confirm any release dates for the final few Animated figures as well as the Universe store exclusives, like the white Leo Prime?
=Cybertron.ca
- Why is Canadian shipping from Hasbro Toy Shop so expensive?
- Will Masterpiece Skywarp and or the last Animated figures (Arcee, Rodimus) be released in Canada? If so will they be exclusives to a particular retailer?
- When will the Universe Classics line return?
TFW2005
- When will we hear about the new line / cartoon coming out after Revenge of the Fallen?
- Would Hasbro be willing to sell Takara-Tomy Transformer products such as Henkei/encore figures to the collector's market in the United States similar to what Takara does with their "USA Edition" figures such as Universe powerglide/Masterpiece Starscream?
- The large sized Robot Heroes toys (The Fallen, Demolishor, Devastator) in giftsets are a big success. Any plans on giving us G1-style large Robot Heroes (Unicron and Devastator were mentioned in last years Botcon) in 2010?
Toyark
- Are there any plans to expand the Human Alliance sub-series to include human / robot pairings from past Transformers series?
- Are there any plans to make more appliance based Transformers such as the Dyson Vaccuum cleaner or the Mountain Dew vending machine "Dispensor" from the first movie?
- Does the continuation of a Generation 1 reissue line of Transformers depend upon its popularity at Toys R Us? If the line turns out not to be viable in retail stores, would it be possible to offer a reissue line for sale through either HasbroToyShop.com or the Official TF Collector's Club?
